Springboks captain Siya Kolisi has empathised with frustrated supporters, saying that the team feel the same and are working hard to improve.
Kolisi’s side has lost two games in a row after being defeated 25-17 by the Wallabies at the Adelaide Oval last weekend in what was a poor performance from the Springboks.
Injuries to key players
The pressure is firmly on the world champions who were dealt with several injuries in the Adelaide Test, including key players Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am, who are both sidelined for the remainder of the Rugby Championship.
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The skipper says the team has been hard at work this week, trying to make the most of their opportunities after failing to be clinical in Round Three.
“It’s been tough and we feel it. It was a tough loss last weekend and we want to be better as a team. We left a lot of opportunities out there on the field,” said Kolisi.
“We are hurting. We have worked as hard as we can to make sure that we are better at some of the mistakes that we made last week. We always point fingers at ourselves first.
“It has been an emotional week and we want to be better.”
Kolisi outlined that the emotions in the Springbok squad matched the supporters’ and said the team is grateful for the passion shown by the fanbase.
“We fully understand the frustration. We accept that. When we celebrate, our fans celebrate with us, so we are also feeling the same kind of frustration,” he said.
“When we finish the game and we sit with the coaches and watch the game, we can see that we should have finished those opportunities. We feel that frustration.
“All we can do is say that we will do our best to do better this weekend. We are grateful for those thoughts and we do take them seriously because without the people we wouldn’t be able to do what we love.
“I hope that they don’t give up on us. We have worked really hard this week and we definitely want to take our opportunities this weekend. We want to be as consistent as we can. We want to make sure that we start with better intent this weekend.
“We have to be better, we have no choice.”
Need to start stronger
The Springboks started poorly against Australia as the hosts flew out of the blocks, making the South Africans chase the game from the outset. Kolisi says his team have emphasised this in the build-up and hopes to start well in Sydney.
“We’ve addressed it and we addressed it today again. Starting with intensity is a big focal point for us. We could feel it last week. We didn’t miss a single tackle in that first try, but they had more intensity than us,” he added.
“When we sing the anthem, all you should be thinking about is your first actions. That’s important for us as a team and it has been addressed really well this week.”